Use Your Email Signatures To Get Overeager Coworkers Off Your Back

These days, many of us are expected to be available to do work at any time, even during off hours. Forbes has a few email tricks that will help get your coworkers off your back.

There are a lot of ways to pretend like you're working, says Forbes, but a few of the best ways involve tiny tweaks to your email signature. For example, by putting emphasis on your phone number, you help people reassess whether their email is really that important:

I particularly like the approach espoused by Claire Robinson, our editorial operations manager. If someone tries to engage her by email after hours, she ups the ante and puts the onus on the other party. "I put my mobile number in my email signature and emphasise it in my away message," she says. "If it's that important, call me. Most of the time, people will not abuse this. I of course check mail periodically during off-hours, but your brain needs a break. I'd rather be interrupted by a call alerting me to something truly important than checking mail constantly just in case."

Another suggestion was to sneakily add the "Sent from my iPhone" signature to messages sent from your desktop, so your coworkers knew they were bugging you on your time off (or to make them think you're out and can't perform the task they require). Similarly, you could remove it from messages actually sent from your phone if you want to make it look like you're working on something when you're really out at the bar. Check out the full article at Forbes for other similar tricks.

How about putting this line ABOVE your signature:
"Seriously, I'm not at work at the moment and as such I couldn't give two poops about your work-related request/question/problem/comment. Save it for when I'm on the clock or, better yet, go ask someone who cares."

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